The chief amusement of this book was that it made me nostalgic for all of that time that I wasted as a teenager playing the game on which this book is based -- but hey, it was an awesome game, so, y'know, I enjoyed reading this a lot.It wasn't The DOOM Comic of yore (comic reading link, youtube dramatic reading), of course, which is and always will be the DOOM adaptation against which all others must be compared, and I think that where it missed most of its mark was that, unlike the comic, the book tried to take the "oh noes, demons are invading our space station" concept in a semi-realistic way -- which meant that this was basically the novelization of the protagonist's trauma and mental breakdown mushed awkwardly with the demands of the plot that the protagonist blow a lot of demons the fuck up. These things can mesh instead of mush -- see, for example, Alien -- but this book seems a little too self-conscious of its genre conventions to really get you into the head of the protagonist where you need to be to make that work, at least if you're me. (I will grant that most of that self-consciousness was probably necessary for the nit-fixing of the original game elements for semi-coherent world-building.)Speaking of the protagonist, though: a lot of this book was the sensitive exploration of the feelings of the protagonist (a Marine named Fly, short for Flynn) for a fellow Marine named Arlene, who appears in person about halfway through the book. When Arlene isn't present, she's a kickass Marine who runs through the station well ahead of Fly, killing things, blazing the trail, and making Fly generally feel second-best; he spends his time day-dreaming about what great friends they were and how all of the Marines respected her so much. When she appears, Fly immediately goes into macho protect-the-little-lady mode, which the book obliges by setting Arlene up to be rescued a couple of times. And, of course, it's Arlene who's all we-must-rescue-the-homeworld in order to inspire Fly to do his part in the fighting. I think that the story of Arlene and her sidekick Fly would have made a much better book, especially because any concept of "chain of command" was pretty much blown out of the water from page one, so it wouldn't matter that Fly technically outranked her.Or maybe I just need to go digging through my old backups to see if I have a copy of DOOM which can be installed on a modern computer so that I can blow up a few demons of my own....
DOOM is a recognizable brand to any 90s kid or true gamer from the PC age of first person video gaming. One of my most vivid memories as a kid is sitting in my underwear at the large IBM PC a kid, around the age of six, blasting away demons, boneys, and hell-princes until late into the night. DOOM changed video gaming and provided a fun, horror filled universe for fans to live in. Sadly, as a kid, I never read the DOOM novelizations. Now, more than twenty years later, I am enjoying this series. The first book in the series is so far its best.Imagine your worst nightmare becoming a reality. Humanity’s conception of hell and horror are made real by alien invaders who have one prime objective: destroy humanity!"Fly" Taggart and Arlene, "A.S.", must traverse Mars’ moons and destroy thousands (literally!) of factory produced demon-like creatures and, wait for it . . . zombies! Yes, I think this is definitely one of those long lost zombie tales that should make a come back. Although I am personally burned out on the zombie genre (sorry The Walking Dead fans, but it is true), I felt revived by the undeads in the DOOM series. Their lemon-stinking existence is a constant reminder that when the dead walk the earth (DOOM #2), so will demons.DOOM reads just like a live-action video game. The authors do a fun job to explain why rockets and MediPacks appear randomly when levers are pulled. Great imagination plus care and love was put into these stores for fans of DOOM. Knee-Deep in the Dead is by far the best of the four part series.
What do You think about Knee-Deep In The Dead (1995)?
So, you got a game about demons invading a Mars outpost, and a lone marine fighting back the hellish tides. Not much to work with, but it can be done, right? Well, the authors decide that the best way to adapt the game is to make it as literal as possible. At one point, the hero touches a glowing blue orb and then feels better afterwards. Yup, it even keeps the power-ups! It wouldn't be so bad if the action was written well, but as it, it's pretty much "I turned the corner, shot a demon, turned a corner, shot another" on and on. The atmosphere reminded me of blocky corridors with little definition, just like the game. Fan fic at its worst.
—Ian
Flynn Taggart is a Marine, threatened with court martial until the Gates on Mars suddenly start working. Aliens that resemble our very human ideas of demons, plus a few zombies thrown in for good measure, take over the base, leaving Flynn on his own. Following marks that he hopes are left by his mate, Arlene, he travels down the levels of the base, the monsters getting worse and harder to kill, the scenery changing at each doorway, and challenges to solve before he can move on.This was an interesting read in that the author has tried really hard to reproduce the experience of playing the game. However, that means it loses a bit of coherence, as there isn't really much of a story line.......just lists of creatures that Flynn kills. Because it is written in 1st person narrative, you also know that Flynn is going to survive, which makes the danger seem less urgent. Not that the other characters are safe!Overall, a good read that doesn't need brain in gear to enjoy or think about...looking forward to the next one to see how they get out of the base.
—Dark-Draco
This review is being written over 15 years after the fact. The boy who read this book and loved doom, has grown up, but still this book is remembered fondly.The big thing about this book, is unlike the scholastic series of Video game books, this is written as if it was a real book, that only owes a theme from the game, and it comes off surprisingly good. It's not high end fiction, it's not pop fiction, this is a novelization of a video game that takes a good amount of liberties to keep it interesting.If you have ever played Doom there's not much there for a book, but the book success in making the travel more than mindless shooter. The only negative is there's a romance story that feels like the author felt it was necessary. Sadly I don't think it added much to the book, but overall the book is well written enough to avoid getting too bogged down there.Again, for a video game novelization, it's quite well done, but not something I'd brag to people about reading.
—Frank
